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https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl

contaiNERD CTL - Docker-compatible CLI for containerd, with support for Compose, Rootless, eStargz, OCIcrypt, IPFS, ...
https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl

containerd

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contaiNERD CTL - Docker-compatible CLI for containerd, with support for Compose, Rootless, eStargz, OCIcrypt, IPFS, ...

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README 

        
[[⬇️ **Download]**](https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl/releases)

[[📖 **Command reference]**](./docs/command-reference.md)

[[❓**FAQs & Troubleshooting]**](./docs/faq.md)

[[📚 **Additional documents]**](#additional-documents)



# nerdctl: Docker-compatible CLI for containerd



![logo](docs/images/nerdctl.svg)



`nerdctl` is a Docker-compatible CLI for [contai**nerd**](https://containerd.io).



 ✅ Same UI/UX as `docker`



 ✅ Supports Docker Compose (`nerdctl compose up`)



 ✅ [Optional] Supports [rootless mode, without slirp overhead (bypass4netns)](./docs/rootless.md)



 ✅ [Optional] Supports lazy-pulling ([Stargz](./docs/stargz.md), [Nydus](./docs/nydus.md), [OverlayBD](./docs/overlaybd.md))



 ✅ [Optional] Supports [encrypted images (ocicrypt)](./docs/ocicrypt.md)



 ✅ [Optional] Supports [P2P image distribution (IPFS)](./docs/ipfs.md) (\*1)



 ✅ [Optional] Supports [container image signing and verifying (cosign)](./docs/cosign.md)



nerdctl is a **non-core** sub-project of containerd.



\*1: P2P image distribution (IPFS) is completely optional. Your host is NOT connected to any P2P network, unless you opt in to [install and run IPFS daemon](https://docs.ipfs.io/install/).



## Examples



### Basic usage



To run a container with the default `bridge` CNI network (10.4.0.0/24):



```console

# nerdctl run -it --rm alpine

```



To build an image using BuildKit:



```console

# nerdctl build -t foo /some-dockerfile-directory

# nerdctl run -it --rm foo

```



To build and send output to a local directory using BuildKit:



```console

# nerdctl build -o type=local,dest=. /some-dockerfile-directory

```



To run containers from `docker-compose.yaml`:



```console

# nerdctl compose -f ./examples/compose-wordpress/docker-compose.yaml up

```



See also [`./examples/compose-wordpress`](./examples/compose-wordpress).



### Debugging Kubernetes



To list local Kubernetes containers:



```console

# nerdctl --namespace k8s.io ps -a

```



To build an image for local Kubernetes without using registry:



```console

# nerdctl --namespace k8s.io build -t foo /some-dockerfile-directory

# kubectl apply -f - <



In addition to containerd, the following components should be installed:



- [CNI plugins](https://github.com/containernetworking/plugins): for using `nerdctl run`.

  - v1.1.0 or later is highly recommended.

- [BuildKit](https://github.com/moby/buildkit) (OPTIONAL): for using `nerdctl build`. BuildKit daemon (`buildkitd`) needs to be running. See also [the document about setting up BuildKit](./docs/build.md).

  - v0.11.0 or later is highly recommended. Some features, such as pruning caches with `nerdctl system prune`, do not work with older versions.

- [RootlessKit](https://github.com/rootless-containers/rootlesskit) and [slirp4netns](https://github.com/rootless-containers/slirp4netns) (OPTIONAL): for [Rootless mode](./docs/rootless.md)

  - RootlessKit needs to be v0.10.0 or later. v2.0.0 or later is recommended.

  - slirp4netns needs to be v0.4.0 or later. v1.1.7 or later is recommended.



These dependencies are included in `nerdctl-full---.tar.gz`, but not included in `nerdctl---.tar.gz`.



### Brew



On Linux systems you can install nerdctl via [brew](https://brew.sh):



```bash

brew install nerdctl

```



This is currently not supported for macOS. The section below shows how to install on macOS using brew.



### macOS



[Lima](https://github.com/lima-vm/lima) project provides Linux virtual machines for macOS, with built-in integration for nerdctl.



```console

$ brew install lima

$ limactl start

$ lima nerdctl run -d --name nginx -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 nginx:alpine

```



### FreeBSD



See [`./docs/freebsd.md`](docs/freebsd.md).



### Windows



- Linux containers: Known to work on WSL2

- Windows containers: experimental support for Windows (see below for features that are currently known to work)



### Docker



To run containerd and nerdctl inside Docker:



```bash

docker build -t nerdctl .

docker run -it --rm --privileged nerdctl

```



## Motivation



The goal of `nerdctl` is to facilitate experimenting the cutting-edge features of containerd that are not present in Docker (see below).



Note that competing with Docker is _not_ the goal of `nerdctl`. Those cutting-edge features are expected to be eventually available in Docker as well.



Also, `nerdctl` might be potentially useful for debugging Kubernetes clusters, but it is not the primary goal.



## Features present in `nerdctl` but not present in Docker



Major:



- On-demand image pulling (lazy-pulling) using [Stargz](./docs/stargz.md)/[Nydus](./docs/nydus.md)/[OverlayBD](./docs/overlaybd.md)/[SOCI](./docs/soci.md) Snapshotter: `nerdctl --snapshotter=stargz|nydus|overlaybd|soci run IMAGE` .

- [Image encryption and decryption using ocicrypt (imgcrypt)](./docs/ocicrypt.md): `nerdctl image (encrypt|decrypt) SRC DST`

- [P2P image distribution using IPFS](./docs/ipfs.md): `nerdctl run ipfs://CID` .

  P2P image distribution (IPFS) is completely optional. Your host is NOT connected to any P2P network, unless you opt in to [install and run IPFS daemon](https://docs.ipfs.io/install/).

- [Cosign integration](./docs/cosign.md): `nerdctl pull --verify=cosign` and `nerdctl push --sign=cosign`, and [in Compose](./docs/cosign.md#cosign-in-compose)

- [Accelerated rootless containers using bypass4netns](./docs/rootless.md): `nerdctl run --annotation nerdctl/bypass4netns=true`



Minor:



- Namespacing: `nerdctl --namespace= ps` .

  (NOTE: All Kubernetes containers are in the `k8s.io` containerd namespace regardless to Kubernetes namespaces)

- Exporting Docker/OCI dual-format archives: `nerdctl save` .

- Importing OCI archives as well as Docker archives: `nerdctl load` .

- Specifying a non-image rootfs: `nerdctl run -it --rootfs  /bin/sh` . The CLI syntax conforms to Podman convention.

- Connecting a container to multiple networks at once: `nerdctl run --net foo --net bar`

- Running [FreeBSD jails](./docs/freebsd.md).

- Better multi-platform support, e.g., `nerdctl pull --all-platforms IMAGE`

- Applying an (existing) AppArmor profile to rootless containers: `nerdctl run --security-opt apparmor=`.

  Use `sudo nerdctl apparmor load` to load the `nerdctl-default` profile.

- Systemd compatibility support: `nerdctl run --systemd=always`



Trivial:



- Inspecting raw OCI config: `nerdctl container inspect --mode=native` .



## Features implemented in `nerdctl` ahead of Docker



- Recursive read-only (RRO) bind-mount: `nerdctl run -v /mnt:/mnt:rro` (make children such as `/mnt/usb` to be read-only, too).

  Requires kernel >= 5.12.

The same feature was later introduced in Docker v25 with a different syntax. nerdctl will support Docker v25 syntax too in the future.

## Similar tools



- [`ctr`](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/tree/main/cmd/ctr): incompatible with Docker CLI, and not friendly to users.

  Notably, `ctr` lacks the equivalents of the following nerdctl commands:

  - `nerdctl run -p `

  - `nerdctl run --restart=always --net=bridge`

  - `nerdctl pull` with `~/.docker/config.json` and credential helper binaries such as `docker-credential-ecr-login`

  - `nerdctl logs`

  - `nerdctl build`

  - `nerdctl compose up`



- [`crictl`](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cri-tools): incompatible with Docker CLI, not friendly to users, and does not support non-CRI features

- [k3c v0.2 (abandoned)](https://github.com/rancher/k3c/tree/v0.2.1): needs an extra daemon, and does not support non-CRI features

- [Rancher Kim (nee k3c v0.3)](https://github.com/rancher/kim): needs Kubernetes, and only focuses on image management commands such as `kim build` and `kim push`

- [PouchContainer (abandoned?)](https://github.com/alibaba/pouch): needs an extra daemon



## Developer guide



nerdctl is a containerd **non-core** sub-project, licensed under the [Apache 2.0 license](./LICENSE).

As a containerd non-core sub-project, you will find the:



- [Project governance](https://github.com/containerd/project/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md),

- [Maintainers](./MAINTAINERS),

- and [Contributing guidelines](https://github.com/containerd/project/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md)



information in our [`containerd/project`](https://github.com/containerd/project) repository.



### Compiling nerdctl from source



Run `make && sudo make install`.



See the header of [`go.mod`](./go.mod) for the minimum supported version of Go.



Using `go install github.com/containerd/nerdctl/v2/cmd/nerdctl` is possible, but unrecommended because it does not fill version strings printed in `nerdctl version`



### Testing



See [testing nerdctl](docs/testing.md).



### Contributing to nerdctl



Lots of commands and flags are currently missing. Pull requests are highly welcome.



Please certify your [Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO)](https://developercertificate.org/), by signing off your commit with `git commit -s` and with your real name.



# Command reference



Moved to [`./docs/command-reference.md`](./docs/command-reference.md)



# Additional documents



Configuration guide:



- [`./docs/config.md`](./docs/config.md): Configuration (`/etc/nerdctl/nerdctl.toml`, `~/.config/nerdctl/nerdctl.toml`)

- [`./docs/registry.md`](./docs/registry.md): Registry authentication (`~/.docker/config.json`)



Basic features:



- [`./docs/compose.md`](./docs/compose.md):   Compose

- [`./docs/rootless.md`](./docs/rootless.md): Rootless mode

- [`./docs/cni.md`](./docs/cni.md): CNI for containers network

- [`./docs/build.md`](./docs/build.md): `nerdctl build` with BuildKit



Advanced features:



- [`./docs/stargz.md`](./docs/stargz.md):     Lazy-pulling using Stargz Snapshotter

- [`./docs/nydus.md`](./docs/nydus.md):       Lazy-pulling using Nydus Snapshotter

- [`./docs/overlaybd.md`](./docs/overlaybd.md):       Lazy-pulling using OverlayBD Snapshotter

- [`./docs/ocicrypt.md`](./docs/ocicrypt.md): Running encrypted images

- [`./docs/gpu.md`](./docs/gpu.md):           Using GPUs inside containers

- [`./docs/multi-platform.md`](./docs/multi-platform.md):  Multi-platform mode



Experimental features:



- [`./docs/experimental.md`](./docs/experimental.md):  Experimental features

- [`./docs/freebsd.md`](./docs/freebsd.md):  Running FreeBSD jails

- [`./docs/ipfs.md`](./docs/ipfs.md): Distributing images on IPFS

- [`./docs/builder-debug.md`](./docs/builder-debug.md): Interactive debugging of Dockerfile



Implementation details:



- [`./docs/dir.md`](./docs/dir.md):           Directory layout (`/var/lib/nerdctl`)



Misc:



- [`./docs/faq.md`](./docs/faq.md): FAQs and Troubleshooting